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Having recently found myself pining for that adventurous feeling of arriving in a new city, knowing nothing and no one, I realised that it may actually be worth sharing my thoughts on this subject. It’s the ultimate adventure, but at the same time solo travel can seem pretty scary. It was something that I had always wanted to do, disappear into the horizon on my way to meet some great adventure (in a very poetic manner of course!). But when my plane landed in Toronto with no one to meet me at the other side of immigration, shit got real! What if I don’t meet anyone? How will have fun at night? I can’t go to a bar on my own, can I? What if I leave my passport somewhere and there is no one by my side to run through the obligatory what-has-Caroline-forgotten check list? And the ultimate scary scenario, what if I have to dine alone??

Thankfully my experience was completely positive and I have now found myself planning some more solo trips. I have a sketched out plan of traveling back to Glasgow in May for a visit, but passing through Banff, Edmonton and Calgary on the way. I’m also keen to spend a couple of months in South and Central America at the end of 2013 when my visa expires, nip home for Christmas, and then come back into Canada in January 2014 to activate my new visa. All just plans in my head for now, who knows where life will take me in the next few months, but there are definitely some more adventures on the cards!

Of course my solo traveling experience so far has been limited to the relatively safe towns and cities of the USA and Canada, so I can’t offer much advice on the likes of trekking alone through the Amazon, the Nepalese mountains or surviving Mexico City (yet!), nevertheless I will share some nuggets of advice I found to be useful along the way:

Hostels: Use hostels and make the most of them! They are the perfect environment for meeting new people just like you – regardless of who ‘you’ are. During my time hosteling I met a girl and her mum who were backpacking together, a 30-something year old local woman who wanted to see what hostel life was like, a guy on release from the army, a 72 year old political activist, a French guy who only started learning English two weeks before, a girl who was a performer for Disney, a 22 year old who was traveling on her own for six months and lots of other fun and interesting people in between. You get the idea. Hosteling isn’t just 18-30 year olds looking for a party (that scene is there though, worry not!) or pretentious Rastafarian wannabes looking to compare travel resumes.

Tours and Activities: This ties in with the hostel thing…get out there…participate! You are traveling alone to push yourself out of your comfort zone, no? Well that’s not going to happen if you spend every night in your hostel watching Netflix (I’ve seen in done!). Most hostels will run tours and activities around the local area, Hosteling International Hostels are pretty good for it. Daytime tours are a good way of meeting people as you immediately have something to talk about. On the Freedom Trail tour in Boston, I met a group of people who by later that night, I felt like I had known forever! If you are in a hostel over the weekend, it is very likely that there will be a bar crawl..and there is no social lubricant quite like alcohol! Just don’t get too carried away, remember that you are in a strange city with people you don’t know, keep your wits about you.

Dorm Living: If you have some extra travel money, it may be tempting to book a private room at your hostels. I would recommend against it. I almost did it for my Seattle stay, as I thought that after sharing for so long (only child here!) and traveling across the US I would want some private space. When I went to book, the price was more than expected so I just went for a smaller dorm. I’m so glad I did, if I didn’t I wouldn’t have met, Claire, my travel buddy for the next few days! General dorm etiquette is to introduce yourself when you arrive in a new dorm, or someone new arrives in yours. You will no doubt get chatting about your travels, it’s a very easy way to meet people.

Find a more confident you: If you are an introvert (and let’s face it, no matter how confident we are able to act, most of us are), then striking up a conversation with a stranger can seem intimidating. You just need to bite the bullet, and once you have done it once, it becomes much easier. If you see a group of people chatting over lunch/dinner at the hostel, ask if you can join them. If you are cooking in the hostel kitchen, rather than squishing past everyone awkwardly, start a conversation about food, cooking, whatever.

Social meetup websites: Since being in Vancouver, I have used the Meetup.com website a couple of times, and I have met some great people. It is very popular here for reasons detailed in this post. It’s basically groups of people with similar interests, or who just want to meet new people, who arrange it through the website. Also, although I haven’t used it, I have heard good things about arranged meetups on the Couchsurfing website – usually this is where you would find yourself a couch to crash on for the night but they also have a massive international community of travelers just looking to meet new people.

Eating alone: The situation will probably crop up when it’s time for food, but you haven’t met anyone yet to grab something with. There are a few options to get around this if you’re not so comfortable with ‘table for one, please!’. Most hostels will have a food prep area where you can cook your own food and just hang out in the hostel. However if you’re not hanging around for very long this may not be so cost effective, you don’t want to be buying a full bag of pasta just for one or two nights. Also, when you’re in a new place, part of the adventure is sampling the local cuisine! When I was on my own, I would usually just make do with casual dining i.e. coffee shops, cafes, street food etc. This way you can sample some local food, get out of the hostel and just take a book or something to keep you entertained. Or just people watch, which is always fun when you’re somewhere new. One girl I met in Seattle was perfectly happy dining in the city’s finest restaurants on her own, which is great, and if you’re happy doing that then you’re onto a winner! However you will probably find that most of the time you wont have the option, as you’ll be inundated with people to share a meal with!

All in all, traveling solo is a great experience and if it’s something you’ve always wanted to do…but..forget the ‘but’. You wont regret it!

I arrived in sunny (yes, sunny!) Seattle on the only dry day they had had that week – score! You can definitely see the difference between the west coast and east coast landscape…the east coast is all beautiful fall colours at the moment; reds, pinks, oranges, yellows. The west coast is all lush evergreens and crystal clear lakes.

Tuesday

Checked into the hostel, dumped my bag and did my usual survey of the area. I found the space needle pretty quickly, however the lady at the hostel told me to look out for a pie shop nearby which sells the best savory and sweet pies in Washington State. Dinner sorted, I thought – but I couldn’t find it and ended up getting an amazing avacado salad from a little deli. Back to the hostel, caught up with some laundry and met my roommate, Clare.

Wednesday

It turns out Claire was flying solo too, so we chummed up for the day and went off on the ferry to Bainbridge island. It’s only a 10 minute ferry ride from Seattle, but it’s a stunning little place. We had a wander around the shops and had some lunch at a great little seafood pub. I then went off my own to explore Pike Place market, the famous Seattle fish market. I also got to see the first ever Starbucks, but refused to queue 30 minutes for a latte I could by in 2 minutes around the corner! I had arranged to meet Claire, and our other roommate, Min, at the Columbus building which offers amazing views of the city without the hefty price tag of the Space Needle. After this we went to see the space needle lights, and were further amazed by the number of products that could be turned into souvenir tack…Space Needle Soap anyone?? This was followed up by dinner at an amazing restaurant, Local 360. Their policy is that all ingredients have to be sourced within a 100 mile radius, or maybe 200 mile, I can’t remember! Anyway, the food was fantastic and I can now also say the same for Washington wine 😉

Again I don’t feel like I spent enough time in Seattle, but as I’ll be spending the next few months in Vancouver, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to return.